Psychology

Course summary

Psychology is the study of the mind, questioning how the brain dictates and influences our behaviour through conscious and unconscious processes such as communication, memory, thought and emotion. The Psychology A-Level is underpinned by the nature vs nurture debate – do we behave as we do because of how we were born, or due to the impact of the range of experiences throughout our life? The course content is wide-ranging, covering eight distinct but closely related topics. In addition, research methods (the critical assessment of the processes underpinning psychological studies and conclusions), issues and debates (including free will v determinism, nature v nurture and the ethic of animal research), and approaches (key theories that underpin key research across a range of topics) are integrated throughout the two-year course.